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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 22, 2019 10:31:26 GMT -5
I picked up Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man, Volume Three, from the library yesterday. I love this run so much! Ditko/Lee Spider-Man is my favorite thing in comics. PERIOD! It's been a while since I read most of these. I think #17 to #34 is the heart of the run, and it's going to be great fun to read #20 to #30 (and Spidey Annual #2) in order. I had a copy of #20 for a short time in the mid-1970s. I bought it at a comic-book shop in Chicago. For three dollars! I traded it for Avengers #11 a year later. I had already read Spider-Man #20 about a zillion times and I really wanted to read Avengers #11! (It came out the same time as Spider-Man #20 and I think there's a full-page ad for Avengers #11 in Spider-Man #20. I was intrigued by that cover, but Spider-Man #20 is A LOT better than Avengers #11.) I'm not going to do a full review or summary of these classic Ditko/Lee stories, but I'll probably just mention a few cool things for each one. What gets me about this issue is just how awful Jameson is. His petty grudge against Spider-Man gets way out-of-hand here as he funds a scientist to genetically enhance a money-hungry thug into the Scorpion to attack Spider-Man. The scientist is killed and the thug becomes a somewhat mentally deranged super-villain, and Jameson just waltzes away with nothing but his worries that he might get caught. Not for the first (or last) time. I've worked in the newspaper business and I don't find Jameson exaggerated AT ALL! I knew a few people who developed petty grudges with no real foundation and I have little doubt they would have acted on them if they had the kind of money that Jameson has. (And also access to scientists who could build Spider-Slayers and turn men into the Scorpion.) I also love the bit with Ned Leeds going to Europe and Peter being relieved because he's jealous of Betty's attentions to Ned. And then there's that three-panel tier with the Scorpion's face that show him becoming IRREDEEMABLY EVIL, which means his malicious grin takes over his face and his eyes get all wide and crazy and his green nostrils flare up.
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Post by chadwilliam on Feb 22, 2019 17:46:44 GMT -5
I wish I could narrow it down better for you than this, Hoosier, but at some point in the 80's (it might have been tied into the Hobgoblin storyline going on at the time) JJJ did address his guilt over creating The Scorpion. From what I recall, Jameson was being threatened with blackmail and decided to "out" himself preemptively with a front page "I Created The Scorpion" headline. I don't think it was published since Spidey saved the day, but it is telling that this preyed on Jameson's mind more than, say, "I Funded The Spider Slayers".
*** Actually, it looks as if this all took place in Amazing Spider-Man 251***
Also; I love The Scorpion's reverse mask with his eyes being the only thing uncovered. I can't think of any other single artist who came up with so many great designs one right after the other - Ditko really was amazing.
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Post by hondobrode on Feb 23, 2019 13:00:32 GMT -5
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Post by Duragizer on Feb 24, 2019 1:00:16 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Feb 24, 2019 7:54:08 GMT -5
^^^^^^^ I agree with much of this. Byrne's art on She Hulk is some of his best, and a fun take on the character. I liked fourth-wall breaking early on, when it came as a surprise, but by issue 3 or 4, it seemed like he was doing it every other page.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 24, 2019 9:17:38 GMT -5
Those are truly awesome covers. They’re a good example of how lowly comic-books can transcend their origin as cheap and disposable entertainment and become true works of art. So eerie, so strange... and all they required were a few lines of ink. I am in awe of such creators... Ditko was really a master.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Feb 24, 2019 9:32:12 GMT -5
I picked up Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man, Volume Three, from the library yesterday. I love this run so much! Ditko/Lee Spider-Man is my favorite thing in comics. PERIOD! It's been a while since I read most of these. I think #17 to #34 is the heart of the run, and it's going to be great fun to read #20 to #30 (and Spidey Annual #2) in order. I had a copy of #20 for a short time in the mid-1970s. I bought it at a comic-book shop in Chicago. For three dollars! I traded it for Avengers #11 a year later. I had already read Spider-Man #20 about a zillion times and I really wanted to read Avengers #11! (It came out the same time as Spider-Man #20 and I think there's a full-page ad for Avengers #11 in Spider-Man #20. I was intrigued by that cover, but Spider-Man #20 is A LOT better than Avengers #11.) I'm not going to do a full review or summary of these classic Ditko/Lee stories, but I'll probably just mention a few cool things for each one. What gets me about this issue is just how awful Jameson is. His petty grudge against Spider-Man gets way out-of-hand here as he funds a scientist to genetically enhance a money-hungry thug into the Scorpion to attack Spider-Man. The scientist is killed and the thug becomes a somewhat mentally deranged super-villain, and Jameson just waltzes away with nothing but his worries that he might get caught. Not for the first (or last) time. I've worked in the newspaper business and I don't find Jameson exaggerated AT ALL! I knew a few people who developed petty grudges with no real foundation and I have little doubt they would have acted on them if they had the kind of money that Jameson has. (And also access to scientists who could build Spider-Slayers and turn men into the Scorpion.) I also love the bit with Ned Leeds going to Europe and Peter being relieved because he's jealous of Betty's attentions to Ned. And then there's that three-panel tier with the Scorpion's face that show him becoming IRREDEEMABLY EVIL, which means his malicious grin takes over his face and his eyes get all wide and crazy and his green nostrils flare up. This is probably my favourite single issue of the Lee/Ditko run (although depending on how I'm feeling ASM #5 might beat it out). As has been noted above Jameson showed real regret later for creating the Scorpion and all the trouble and death it caused in this and later issues. However, Jameson also realises that he's gone too far with his obsessive hatred of Spider-Man and created a monster with the Scorpion in this issue. ASM #20 is important for JJJ's character development because, in realising the dire consequences of his having created the Scorpion, it was really the point where Jameson finally became a fully fleshed out, three dimensional character IMO. The other thing I love about this issue is just how much bang for your buck it provides. There's just so much story, mystery, character development, and action crammed into those 20 short pages. Like most of the run, Ditko's artwork in issue #20 is fantastic too. From the brooding panels where that shadowy stranger who has followed Peter Parker home is stood outside his house, to the panel where Dr. Stillwell desperately clambers up a tall building in pursuit of the Scorpion and desperately hurls the antidote, which he knows can stop the super-villain, only to miss his target and plunge to his death. That particular panel of Stillwell losing his grip has really stayed with me over the years. The rooftop fight between the Scorpion and Spidey, with huge chunks of masonry and brickwork flying about, is really spectacular and wonderfully staged too. Oh, and the ending, in which Spider-Man manages to defeat the Scorpion and save J. Jonah Jameson's life, only to see Jonah cast as the hero in the public's eyes for catching Scorpion, is just classic Peter Parker luck. Yeah, ASM #20 is a hell of a comic.
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 24, 2019 11:16:11 GMT -5
I have the Amazing Adventures/Amazing Adult Fantasy Omnibus and it's one of the greatest reprint collections ever!
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 24, 2019 11:32:16 GMT -5
Amazing Spider-Man #21 is pretty awesome too! I posted the cover of Marvel Tales #159 because this is the first place I saw this particular story. I've not read it as much as #20 but I've still read it quite a few times. One of the things I love about Spider-Man is that big supporting cast and the way the stories sometimes focus on one aspect of Spidey's life (like last issue's focus on Jameson) and at other times, they mix it up a little or a lot. This issue has a lot of frequent guest star Human Torch and a little bit of everybody else. But some of the cast with very little screen time are able to make the most of it, like Flash taunting the Torch, or Betty upset when she thinks Peter is dating Dorrie Evans. Another thing I like about this one is the use of the Torch's main supporting cast member and a Torch villain. We got Dorrie Evens and the Beetle. And I think it's notable that both characters are a lot more interesting here than they ever were in the Torch's solo series. I've read all those Torch issues of Strange Tales and I can't remember a single specific thing that Dorrie ever said or did, though I have a general impression that she was a bit of a pain in the ass the way that Lana Lang was for Superboy, but without any of Lana's charm or the inventiveness of the Silver Age Superboy stories. Marvel Masterworks: Spider-Man, Volume Three, is just one great story after another!
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 24, 2019 14:26:41 GMT -5
This is probably my favourite single issue of the Lee/Ditko run (although depending on how I'm feeling ASM #5 might beat it out). As has been noted above Jameson showed real regret later for creating the Scorpion and all the trouble and death it caused in this and later issues. However, Jameson also realises that he's gone too far with his obsessive hatred of Spider-Man and created a monster with the Scorpion in this issue. ASM #20 is important for JJJ's character development because, in realising the dire consequences of his having created the Scorpion, it was really the point where Jameson finally became a fully fleshed out, three dimensional character IMO. My description of Jameson's remorse was so glib that it was misleading. (But notice he's not remorseful enough to confess his sins to the cops!) So thanks for fleshing out that scene with those panels. Up next is Spider-Man #22, which I first read in the late 1970s when I bought a copy for probably around $6. I read that over and over! I love that comic! I love the way Princess Python is portrayed and it's long looked to me like she had the potential to be a much bigger character. I'm really looking forward to reading that again after so many years!
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 24, 2019 16:43:49 GMT -5
Vault of Evil #16 reprints a bunch of Atlas/Marvel horror/thriller/suspense stories from 1953 to 1958. I love these types of stories even when they're pretty bad. nd these are pretty bad! There's one story with Angelo Torres art that's pretty good and almost makes up for the dumb story. But even the Bill Everett story - "A Stranger Among Us" - is some pretty substandard Everett.
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 24, 2019 16:52:40 GMT -5
The 1970s Secret Origins incarnation was such a great series! I well remember having a couple of issues of this series and seeing the origins of Aquaman, Robin, Wildcat and Wonder Woman for he first time. (It was the very first time I ever liked Aquaman!) I recently got #4 in the mail and it's a couple of origins I've never seen before - Vigilante and Kid Eternity! These are both some nice looking Golden Age stories! The Vigilante has art by Mort Meskin! And the Kid Eternity has art by Sheldon Moldoff in his "look at me swipe Alex Raymond" mode. I've decided not to file this comic right away because I'm sure I'll want to read it again soon!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Feb 25, 2019 0:26:20 GMT -5
Up next is Spider-Man #22, which I first read in the late 1970s when I bought a copy for probably around $6. I read that over and over! I love that comic! I love the way Princess Python is portrayed and it's long looked to me like she had the potential to be a much bigger character. I'm really looking forward to reading that again after so many years! Yeah, the Circus of Crime issue is another great one. I read all of these Lee/Ditko issues as a kid, in the pages of Marvel Tales back in the mid-80s -- and I didn't even realise they were reprints! I mean, I liked ASM and PP:TSSM a lot too, but MT was usually the best Spider-Man comic on the stands back then...which isn't suprising knowing, as I do now, that they were reprinting the classic era of Spidey comics. My brother actually bought the MT reprint of ASM #22, but he wasn't as much of a comics fan as I was, so I soon nicked it off of him for good!
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 25, 2019 21:13:39 GMT -5
Spider-Man #22 is one of my favorites! There's just so much going on! Spidey is keeping tabs on the Circus of Crime! They eject the Ringmaster from the group and elect the Clown as the new leader and steal some paintings as The Clown and His Masters of Menace! Jameson is putting on the show because he craves the adulation he'll get as a patron of the arts! Betty and Peter make up after the Dorrie Evans episode last issue! Cannonball clobbers Jameson with his rivety head and JJ is in the hospital for a while! And when he gets out, Peter has pics of Spider-Man capturing the Clown and his cronies so JJJ makes Peter and Betty stay late at the office to help put out an extra so Peter gets home late (he forgot to call) and Aunt May is mad at him for making her worry! What is there not to love in this one?! Ditko and Lee were on a roll. I especially love Princess Python, the way everybody makes fun of the paintings and also the panel where the anonymous art lover is musing "Boy, I wish I could draw feet like that!" It was a joy reading this one again after such a long hiatus.
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 25, 2019 21:25:42 GMT -5
Before I read super-hero comics, I read MAD Magazine and Cracked. And before I read MAD Magazine, there were a few years where I read a lot of Harvey Comics. And every once in a while, something will remind me of Casper, Baby Huey, Litltle Lotta, Sad Sack, Wendy, Little Audrey, etc. My favorite was Little Dot. I don't know why. There was only the one joke: She likes dots! I still love Little Dot, but my second favorite is Hot Stuff. I haven't read any Harvey Comics in years but I recently put a low bid on Devil Kids Starring Hot Stuff #93 and I won! These stories are weird. There's also a Stumbo story! I used to love Stumbo too! For some reason, I still think about Hot Stuff a lot. Some years ago, I started wondering what his deal is. Is he the product of a Mommy and Daddy demon falling in love and then having a baby that - for some reason - they are now unable to care for? Or is Hot Stuff a baby who was so evil that, when he died young, he went straight to Hell despite his tender years? That second possibility would make a great horror movie! It was fun to read this issue of Devil Kids and to wonder why Hot Stuff and his fellow devils (one of whom is his aunt!) are wandering around in a sylvan fairy land that I assume is the same mystical land that is home to Casper and Wendy and Stumbo. Shouldn't they live in caves amid fiery rocks and lava pools? It was kind of fun, but it will probably be a while before I buy another old Harvey comic on a whim.
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